With this last weekend being the late May bank holiday weekend, Uns and I decided to head over to Ireland for a few days, first in Kerry and then down West Cork. After work on Wednesday we met up at Heathrow, grabbed a bite to eat at the Skyline Bar and a quick beer at our usual, The Tin Goose. Then our flight, which was just the usual hour or so, was probably one of the worst flights I've gone through in terms of turbulence. Apparently some jet stream over the Irish Sea which on the plus side was giving us some great weather back home but also gave us the most awful turbulent flight we've ever had. Not fun at all. But we got into Cork OK, picked up a car for the long weekend, and drive just down the road to The Park Inn By Radisson, where we were staying for just the night.

Thursday we were up early for check out and made our way over to Claire for breakfast with little Jack who was centre of attention the whole time we were there. We landed up leaving there mid-afternoon and heading out west past Kenmare and onto Parknasilla where we bumped into Tony while checking in. After dropping our bags we took a walk around the hotel and along the 'Fairy Walk' through the woods, followed by some time in the pool and saunas down in the spa. For dinner we met up with Tony and Teresa in the bar area downstairs and finished up the night with a couple of drinks in the front room of the hotel.

Yesterday morning after breakfast, we decided to head out in the car over to Valentia Island, about 60 km away. We did take the slow scenic drive, stopping off occasionally for a photo or three. For lunch we liked the look of Knights Town Coffee Shop and Bistro and popped in there for a bite to eat. Neither of us had any cash on us, so we both hoped they took card, since Valentia Island definitely would've had any cash points anywhere nearby. Unfortunately they didn't take card, but the woman running the place told us to go ahead and order and she'd give us an envelope to send the money on later, which I found quite amazing. After our lunch we enquired about the ferry crossing if they took cash and she even offered to give us a spare ticket, which then became €10 when she didn't have a spare one. So not only did we walk into a bar without any money, we left there full and €10 richer :) There certainly aren't many people or places that'll help you out like that. After lunch, we caught the ferry across from Knights Town to Cahersiveen and made our way back to Parknasilla.

Once back at Parknasilla, we made our way down to the pool and spa briefly, until Una had her massage booked in and I decided to take a walk around the grounds and snap a few pictures. After that we grabbed a taxi out to Kenmare to meet up with Teresa and Tony at The Lime Tree Restaurant, where we had dinner booked. I had the most amazing seafood chowder to start, followed by the lamb dish. Both unbelievably good. After dinner we made our way down to Crowley's for a couple of beers inside there. Once we were done with our drinks, Tony and Teresa left to go home and myself and Uns struggled for ages to get a taxi back to Parknasilla. So while waiting, we popped into the Square Pint for a cheeky beer until we could actually get ourselves a taxi back.

This morning after breakfast we took a walk around the gardens again and down along the boardwalk before checking out and then heading down to the pool and saunas for a few hours to maximise our spa time. Eventually we figure we'd have to get going and stopped in at Teresa for a coffee, then the Blue Bull Bar in Sneem for lunch and from there headed for West Cork via the Cork and Kerry tunnels.